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Book: Far From Home: The Complete Second Series (Far From Home 13-15) by Tony Healey
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Authors: Tony Healey
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coloured lights appeared either within or below the metal itself.
"Oh," Dr. Gentry said. "Most fascinating."
Jessica made a sweep of the entire, shiny metal circle with her hand. The lights – eighteen of them in total – did not appear the entire circumference, but at specific points. And as the rest of the team crowded around to watch, it became apparent the lights were much more than illumination. They were symbols, though of a kind none of them had seen before.
"What now?" Rayne asked.
"Well . . ." Jessica said. She pressed a finger against one of the symbols and it flashed. She proceeded to push them all, one after the other. "Sometimes you just have to push every button."
"A most unscientific –" Dr. Gentry started to say. His eyebrows rose in surprise as the airlock started to open. The door retracted into the hull of the Enigma . "Well . . ."
Captain King stepped forward and aimed her head torch into the gaping darkness within the giant structure. There was little to see but a kind of decking. As powerful as the torch was, it didn't illuminate anything. Barely penetrated the gloom before them.
Jessica turned back to the others.
"I know it's customary for a speech at this point," she said. "And now I wish I'd prepared one. But I didn't. So how about we get inside and see what's in there?"
"Sounds good to me," Lieutenant Jackson said.
" Defiant , are you listening?"
"Affirmative, Captain," Commander Greene said on the other end.
"We're going in, Commander."
"Good luck."
And with that, Captain Jessica King of the starship Defiant became the first human to step foot within the Enigma .
23.
As it turned out, they were only within the airlock itself. It was big enough to hold them all. The ingenuity of the Enigma 's design made itself instantly apparent. They realised that the same decking they'd taken to be the floor was in fact on every surface, for what was up and down? The Enigma 's builders had provided a chamber shaped like a hexagon to provide numerous surfaces on which they could walk. Every wall was also the floor and the ceiling. A very weak gravity helped them walk on the otherwise slippery surface.
"That's an inner lock," Lieutenant Belcher said, approaching a door entirely similar to that which they'd just stepped through. I'd assume that after that, we'll encounter some kind of atmosphere."
"Doctor? Would you care to give it a try?" Jessica asked Dr. Gentry.
The older man grinned. "Yes!"
He bounded forward and copied her own actions from moments before. The lit symbols appeared again around the door, and the Doctor proceeded to press each one in turn.
The inner lock opened, much the same as the one on the hull had.
"Doctor?" Jessica said. She held out an open hand. "After you."
24.
"They have breached the Enigma , sir," Ensign Roland Beaumont reported from the science station. "Teams entering the first centrifuge now."
Commander Greene nodded. "Excellent. Keep me apprised."
*
The inner airlock was much like the first, but smaller. When the last of them had stepped through it, the door shut behind them.
Lights flashed around them from within the hexagonal walls.
"Readings?" King asked.
Dr. Gentry checked his scanner. "I'm reading atmosphere. Pressure rising. It's thin at the moment, but breathable."
"Interesting," she said. "So the Namar breathed an Oxygen-Nitrogen atmosphere the same as us?"
"It would appear so. In a moment, I predict this chamber will be fully pressurised," Gentry said.
And he was right. With its equalisation sequence complete, the lights all came on at once around them, revealing another door at the other end.
Jessica looked to Commander Chang. "Would you like the honour, Commander?"
"Well," Chang said, a big smile on her face. "If the offer's there . . ."
Jessica noted the way Chang looked at Olivia Rayne. The shine in their eyes.
The Commander worked the mysterious controls of the airlock, manipulating the lit symbols just as she and
"Oh," Dr. Gentry said. "Most fascinating."
Jessica made a sweep of the entire, shiny metal circle with her hand. The lights – eighteen of them in total – did not appear the entire circumference, but at specific points. And as the rest of the team crowded around to watch, it became apparent the lights were much more than illumination. They were symbols, though of a kind none of them had seen before.
"What now?" Rayne asked.
"Well . . ." Jessica said. She pressed a finger against one of the symbols and it flashed. She proceeded to push them all, one after the other. "Sometimes you just have to push every button."
"A most unscientific –" Dr. Gentry started to say. His eyebrows rose in surprise as the airlock started to open. The door retracted into the hull of the Enigma . "Well . . ."
Captain King stepped forward and aimed her head torch into the gaping darkness within the giant structure. There was little to see but a kind of decking. As powerful as the torch was, it didn't illuminate anything. Barely penetrated the gloom before them.
Jessica turned back to the others.
"I know it's customary for a speech at this point," she said. "And now I wish I'd prepared one. But I didn't. So how about we get inside and see what's in there?"
"Sounds good to me," Lieutenant Jackson said.
" Defiant , are you listening?"
"Affirmative, Captain," Commander Greene said on the other end.
"We're going in, Commander."
"Good luck."
And with that, Captain Jessica King of the starship Defiant became the first human to step foot within the Enigma .
23.
As it turned out, they were only within the airlock itself. It was big enough to hold them all. The ingenuity of the Enigma 's design made itself instantly apparent. They realised that the same decking they'd taken to be the floor was in fact on every surface, for what was up and down? The Enigma 's builders had provided a chamber shaped like a hexagon to provide numerous surfaces on which they could walk. Every wall was also the floor and the ceiling. A very weak gravity helped them walk on the otherwise slippery surface.
"That's an inner lock," Lieutenant Belcher said, approaching a door entirely similar to that which they'd just stepped through. I'd assume that after that, we'll encounter some kind of atmosphere."
"Doctor? Would you care to give it a try?" Jessica asked Dr. Gentry.
The older man grinned. "Yes!"
He bounded forward and copied her own actions from moments before. The lit symbols appeared again around the door, and the Doctor proceeded to press each one in turn.
The inner lock opened, much the same as the one on the hull had.
"Doctor?" Jessica said. She held out an open hand. "After you."
24.
"They have breached the Enigma , sir," Ensign Roland Beaumont reported from the science station. "Teams entering the first centrifuge now."
Commander Greene nodded. "Excellent. Keep me apprised."
*
The inner airlock was much like the first, but smaller. When the last of them had stepped through it, the door shut behind them.
Lights flashed around them from within the hexagonal walls.
"Readings?" King asked.
Dr. Gentry checked his scanner. "I'm reading atmosphere. Pressure rising. It's thin at the moment, but breathable."
"Interesting," she said. "So the Namar breathed an Oxygen-Nitrogen atmosphere the same as us?"
"It would appear so. In a moment, I predict this chamber will be fully pressurised," Gentry said.
And he was right. With its equalisation sequence complete, the lights all came on at once around them, revealing another door at the other end.
Jessica looked to Commander Chang. "Would you like the honour, Commander?"
"Well," Chang said, a big smile on her face. "If the offer's there . . ."
Jessica noted the way Chang looked at Olivia Rayne. The shine in their eyes.
The Commander worked the mysterious controls of the airlock, manipulating the lit symbols just as she and
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